In His Time.......... with P.Ramachandran

26 Apr - We started the day with devotion. After breakfast, the team went out to do a little sightseeing and shopping, while I stayed back to complete my preparation for the next assignment, family camp in Genting Highlands over the weekend with SS Gospel Centre. As I began to pray and reflect about the trip, the following thoughts came to my mind: Happy to see the work of God growing in Myanmar through PEC. Shadrach Home was indeed a blessing but they have many needs. The monthly support for one needs to be increased. The facilities need some renovation. We need to look for a permanent building in the future. Many christians have no clue about the suffering of the poor in the 3rd world countries, needless to say don't seem to have the passion to reach the unreached. The Indian village as a heart breaker. Hopefully we can do something in the future to eliminate their poverty. The church planters in Myanmar work in difficult situations, sometimes sacri...

Today we had two main events. First a visit to a Children's Home in the outskirts of Yangon. This Home is run by Missions Myanmar, of which Pst John Phongshar is a part. There are about 15 kids here and most of them are missionaries kids. These missionaries work in remote places where there are no schools. The kids are sent to this Home, where they grow in a Christian environment and attend school as well. This is really a noble idea. It will spur more people to be come missionaries.  Also I discovered it was Pst John Phongshar's birthday. So we decided to surprise him with a cake. Pst John was really surprised and delighted. In his whole life, there were only three occasions where he had a cake for his birthday. After the cake cutting we prayed for him. Its so difficult to find a man of God who is honest, sincere and has no ulterior motive. But I found this Pst John. High class stewardship, especially in money. Thank God for such man with great passion, commitment an...

24 Apr. Today we drove about 3 hrs in the morning to visit our church planter in  Kwing Thong Se, in Mandalay Division . I visited this village in Nov last year  with Bro George ans Bro Patrick. Bro George from Singapore had donated some money for this church to put up a building.  We were greeted by a Pst  Saw Swee and a  small congregation. It was a working day and many members could not get leave to be there. Nevertheless we had a short service. Bro Uthi shared the Word and we prayed for them.  Pst Saw Swee explanation  that they were facing some opposition in the village. When they put up a sing board  for the church , the local authorities and some monks came forcefully and demanded that the board  be removed. But he believes that God will open  a way for the building to be built. Currently  a temporary  shed serves as a church building. We prayed for Pst Saw Swee and his wife and believed that we will see a ...

After our morning devotion and breakfast on 22 Apr, we departed  Naung Hkio  for Tanyan at about 8:30AM This time the journey was through dangerous mountains roads, with sharp and narrow bends. Some of the ladies in the team could not take the swirling roller-coaster ride and we had to stop on the way to help them recover (vomiting). But the scenery was picturesque and glorious.  By noon the team was suffering from tiredness and fatigue because of the long travel. We stopped at a village stall for lunch but after seeing the number flies and the condition in the shop, non dared take the risk, except for Pst Phongshar and Phongram. So it was biscuits and water.  We finally arrived Tanyan at about 3PM. After checking into the hotel we went straight to the Shadrach Home. The moment the team arrived at the Home, all their tiredness and lethargy vanished after seeing the beautiful smiles and the welcome given by the lovely children. It was a joy to meet Sis Kh...

All the team members arrived on time. We gathered together and prayed before setting off for the immigration.  The flight to Yangon was uneventful. We arrived on time. Pst John Phongshar was at the airport to receive us together with Phong Ram, a full-time worker in MTC.  Then we started  the first leg of the journey up to Tanyan, where our Shadrach Home is. This is in the Northern Shan State. We departed at about 11:30AM from the airport.  We stopped at Nay Pyi Daw for lunch. Lunch was good. Then we continued the journey. The roads were generally fine, except after Mandalay we had to track up the mountains with some sharp turns.  By the time we reached,  Naung Hkio   a small town, it was almost midnight. We had travelled about 12 hrs by then and we had another 3-4 hrs to go to Lashio for the night stop. But we decided to stop at this small town and proceed with the journey the next day. The team was relieved. 

Its 6:15AM and I am at the airport, checked-in, waiting for my team to arrive. A bit early at the airport as Jeya had a early flight to KL, to visit her ailing aunt. So I am waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. 11 of us are going on this trip. First time a big group from PEC to Myanmar. Some first time on a mission trip and many first time to Myanmar. We are visiting the Shadrach Home and two church planters there. Its going to be travelling most of the time, sometimes over difficult terrain.  I saiah 45:2 - I will go before you and will level the mountains. This is the promise verse for the month and a great assurance that HE will go before us. Looking forward to a great visitation from the Lord for every team member. Praying that all  hearts will be charged with passion for missions after this trip. 

My heart bursts with joy at seeing the realization of another church planters training centre. This is a dream come true. The vision to start a church planting movement  in this state was birthed in 2015  If you have read about the history of Bihar, it was called the "missionary's graveyard". Many saints were martyred in this state. The state is very backward and poor and desperately in need of a saviour. On 5th Mar 2015, I posted the following on Facebook:  Bihar, once known as the missionaries graveyard, will become the missions vineyard. From the valley of dry bones will rise a vast army (Ezekiel 37). And because the impression from the Lord was so strong, we started a batch of CP training in Kanniyakumari for students from Bihar. Pst John Signey helped to coordinate this. But that was a disappointment. Men from Bihar, who claimed to be servants of God, simply could not be trusted. It was money and fame they were after but no passion for the work.  ...

Esther celebrated her 18th birthday yesterday. Some of our leaders were invited to their home for a late dinner. That was because we had the Missions Team practise in the evening. Jeya could not make it for the dinner as she came back late from work. The dinner was fabulous. Earlier on Sunday, I prayed for Esther in church and the Lord gave me a Word her for her life. It was a good Word. It has been a joy to see  Esther grow up in church from being a baby to where she is today. Although small in size, she is bold and dares to take risks. Most importantly she loves God. Her parents have been faithful in spite of the many upheavals in the church.  Faithfulness to God is what matters in life . Some hold allegiance to a man, others to an organisation. But these will fail. But when we are loyalty is to God, we will not be shaken, though the winds may blow and the storms may come. They will not be shaken but remain faithful to first principles.  Wish Esther...

What a fast paced week, this has been. First one of our challengers, Sis Vadivu, was admitted  to hospital due to chest pain. The whole church rallied again in prayer and visitation. It was heartwarming to see the challengers coming together to pray in the church. Praise God she was discharged in two days. The it was so heartwarming to see the Sembawang cell group doing a house visitation in one of the less fortunate homes. And there was so much excitement in wanting to provide for the needs of this home. They held the cell there. PECeans are at last coming out of their comfort zones and reaching out to the community.  I also overhear that the youths were also trying to rise funds to provide for the needy in the community. Isn't this what the church is supposed to do? I pray that they will not stop here. The excitement culminated with the late text from Jacqy on Thursday night that her waterbed has burst and had to be rushed to the hospital. She was due ne...

We were blessed with an awesome time of worship on Sunday. It is good to see people becoming more free to worship both in the morning and evening services. Specially blessed to have Rev Valson Verges from New Life AG, Hyderabad, to minster the Word to us. He is the 3rd person to suggest that we should go onto our second morning service, a thought that I have been trying to push through. But both the spirit and flesh seems to be weak in our case. It about time some hard decisions are made to move forward.  Rev Valson spoke on reaching out to the lost and he pointed out that God often  creates windows in people's lives for us to reach: 1) The window of sickness 2) The window of struggle 3) The window of suffering 4) The window of sorrow And that's  true. Lat week we have been visiting many people in need. Praying that through these opportunities more members will be engaged in ministry and more people will be churched.  It was also a j...

2 Kings 7:3-11 This scenario takes place during the period of Israel’s Divided Monarchy, and in the Northern Kingdom Israel, specifically during the reign of Joram. Joram is one in a long line of really bad kings in Israel. Idolatry held sway for the vast majority of these kings, and they generally relied on their own devices, and not on the Lord. Because of their wickedness, God allowed the enemy to lay siege of Samaria. Worst still, there was a grave famine and the nation was hit with an economic crisis. Death was the only option remaining. In spite of the King’s arrogance, God through His prophet promised to reverse the situation. Now the narrative shifts from the city to the outskirts where 4 lepers were contemplating their future. Their lot was as same as those in the city or maybe worst. Lepers those days were considered outcasts and with no food, no security and no help, death was certain. But they decided to do the unthinkable; go to the enemy’s camp for help. It w...